Royal Richard "Jim" Rathmann (July 16, 1928 – November 23, 2011), was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who competed primarily in Championship Cars. Rathmann is best known for winning the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, emerging victorious after a race-long duel with

Rodger Ward Rodger M. Ward (January 10, 1921 – July 5, 2004) was a World War II Lockheed_P-38_Lightning, P-38 aviator in the United States Army Air Forces, and an American race driver with 26 victories in top echelon open-wheel racing in North America ...

- as recently as 2023, a panel of fans and historians voted Rathmann's victory as the greatest '500' of all time. In Europe he is well-known for winning the 1958

Race of Two Worlds The Race of Two Worlds (Trofeo dei Due Mondi in Italian), also known as the ''500 Miglia di Monza'' (500 Miles of Monza), was an automobile race held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy in 1957 and again in 1958. It was intended as ...

. Rathmann and his older brother swapped names while teenagers. As a 16-year-old going by the name of Dick Rathmann, he wanted to start racing. To enter races, he borrowed his older brother's I.D. and assumed the identity of "

Jim Rathmann Jim Rathmann (July 16, 1928 – November 23, 2011), born Royal Richard Rathmann, was an American race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1960. He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series in the 1949–1950 and 1952–1963 seaso ...

." The name change stuck for life in public circles.

Driving career

Championship Car career

Rathmann drove in the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

and USAC

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

series in the 1949–1950 and 1952–1963 seasons with 38 starts, including the

during each of those seasons. He had 2 victories in addition to his Indianapolis 500 win, including the

USAC Daytona 100 The Daytona 100 was a USAC Championship Car race held at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday April 4, 1959. It was the first and only Indy car race held on the high banks of Daytona, and saw incredible speeds turn ...

. Rathmann also participated in the two runnings of the

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, winning the 1958 race, a non-championship event.

1960 Indianapolis 500 victory

1960 Ken-Paul Special - June 2022 - Sarah Stierch

Starting in the middle of the first row, Rathmann ran in the front the entire race. From the midway point on, Rathmann and fellow driver

were locked in a neck and neck duel for first. Tire wear became an issue as the race wore on and Rathmann was able to keep his wheels fresh long enough to outrace Ward to the finish. The race featured the most recorded lead changes in Indianapolis 500 history, and has often been considered the greatest Indianapolis 500 ever run.

Stock car career

Rathmann competed in three

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

races from 1949 to 1951, competing in one race during each of those years. He debuted in 1949 at Langhorne, dropping out with mechanical issues. In 1950, Rathmann raced at the prestigious

Daytona Beach Road Course The Daytona Beach and Road Course was a race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set. Beach and ro ...

. Starting 17th in this event, Rathmann finished 12th. In his final race in 1951, Rathmann started 9th at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, but dropped out with mechanical issues.

World Drivers' Championship career

The

/ USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 was included in the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

World Drivers' Championship Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which a ...

from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indianapolis during those years were credited with World Drivers' Championship points and participation in addition to those which they received towards the

/ USAC

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

. Rathmann participated in ten World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. He won once, finished in the top three four times, recorded two fastest laps, and accumulated 29 World Drivers' Championship points. Rathmann's points total is the largest number of World Drivers' Championship points earned by a driver competing solely in the Indianapolis 500.

Post-racing career

Rathmann later owned a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

dealership in

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando. As of th2020 Decennial Census there was a population of 84,678. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. ...

, where he befriended astronauts

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

Gus Grissom Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was an American engineer, pilot in the United States Air Force, and member of the Mercury Seven selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) as Project Mercur ...

, and

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spac ...

. Rathmann convinced GM President

Ed Cole Edward Nicholas Cole (September 17, 1909 – May 2, 1977) was an American automotive executive for General Motors. Career Cole was the son of a dairy farmer. In his youth, he designed, built, and sold homemade radio sets, and as a teenage ...

to set up a program which supplied each astronaut with a pair of new cars each year. Most chose a family car for their wives and a Corvette for themselves.

Alan Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astron ...

recalls Corvettes lined up in the parking lot outside the astronaut offices at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in Houston, and friendly races between Shepard and Grissom along the Florida beach roads. After retiring from the car business, Rathmann lived with his wife, Mary Kay, in

Indialantic, Florida Indialantic (officially incorporated as Indialantic-By-The-Sea, though the official name is seldom used in casual parlance) is a town in Brevard County, Florida. The town's population was 2,720 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the ...

Death

During the decades after his victory, Rathmann was a regular visitor to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during May each year. He drove the pace car several times. However, he missed the 100th-anniversary celebration in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

due to failing health. Rathmann died on November 23, 2011. He had reportedly suffered a seizure at his home days earlier and died at a hospice center in Melbourne, Florida.

Awards and honors

Rathmann has been inducted into the following halls of fame: *

Florida Sports Hall of Fame The Florida Sports Hall of Fame (FSHOF) is an association dedicated to honoring athletes with outstanding achievement in sports in Florida. It has expanded its goals to include encouraging physical fitness among Florida's citizens through the examp ...

(1978) * Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1993) *

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...

(2007)

Motorsports career results

AAA/USAC Championship Car results

Indianapolis 500 results

FIA World Drivers' Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Jim Rathmann - ChampCarStats.com

Jim Rathmann - Motorsport Memorial
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathmann, Jim 1928 births 2011 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 winners NASCAR drivers People from Indialantic, Florida Sportspeople from Brevard County, Florida Sportspeople from Alhambra, California Racing drivers from Los Angeles World Sportscar Championship drivers Formula One race winners USAC Stock Car drivers Carrera Panamericana drivers